Stops powering on

[darunium]

Hi All,

So I just built a new HTPC (details in sig). I got it running with just the boot SSD about a week ago, just installed Win7 and drivers then set it aside for the week til I could get to it again. It ran fine then, booted multiple times, I played with it a little here and there.

I just added two HDD to the system, did cable management and all that, (all the while wearing an antistatic wristband), closed it all up and wouldn't you know it it won't power on.

In terms of symptoms, here's exactly what happens:

- nothing (with 1 exception) happens, no lights or sounds from motherboard, no fans spinning, no power to anything,
- The ONLY thing that happens is there is a faint low-pitched 'click' or 'tick' from the PSU as soon as I flip the switch, then nothing.

It makes me think that I have a short somewhere, that's happened to me before but then I still had a brief spin-up (maybe half a second) before everything shut down. That was a different PSU however the circuit breaker may be in a different location on this PSU (Antec BP550).

Anyway, any advice anyone has would be greatly appreciated.

If I somehow fried the MoBo, what would the symptoms be, something similar? Do I just have a short, or could it be something else?

Thanks!
darunium

 

[Brainonska511]

If you don't have another PSU to test with, you can try jumping your PSU to see if it still turns on: remove it completely from the machine (disconnect it as well). Locate the green wire on the 24-pin connector and hook it, using something like a paperclip, to a black wire on the same connector. DO NOT DO THIS WHILE IT IS PLUGGED INTO THE WALL. Remove your hand from the paperclip, and proceed to plug in the power supply. Flip the back switch and see if it turns on. To turn it off, turn off the back switch, unplug it, remove the paperclip.

 

[darunium]

If you don't have another PSU to test with, you can try jumping your PSU to see if it still turns on: remove it completely from the machine (disconnect it as well). Locate the green wire on the 24-pin connector and hook it, using something like a paperclip, to a black wire on the same connector. DO NOT DO THIS WHILE IT IS PLUGGED INTO THE WALL. Remove your hand from the paperclip, and proceed to plug in the power supply. Flip the back switch and see if it turns on. To turn it off, turn off the back switch, unplug it, remove the paperclip.

Thanks! Can I try that with it still in the case, just unhooked from everything?

I'm hesitant to think the PSU is the problem, because it worked fine before and I don't see how I could have damaged it. I'm trying to figure out what could have changed as a result of me installing the HDDs/tinkering in there.

 

[darunium]

I solved the issue, it was a short, I had thrown in a shorter 6-pin PSU connector to molex since I was only using one of the connectors over a short distance, but I just noticed that that 6-pin connector had a wire doubled back on itself. Idk where I got it from but it was shorting the PSU, replaced that with the original Molex connector, problem solved.